Heart rate variability changes in patients with panic disorder

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Psychiatry
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Panic disorder (PD) is a condition characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks.
• Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects autonomic nervous system function and has been investigated as a potential biomarker in various psychiatric conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and evaluate differences in heart rate variability (HRV) between patients with panic disorder (PD) and healthy controls.
• To assess if HRV parameters change following treatment in patients with PD.

Main Methods:

• A literature search was conducted on databases for studies comparing resting-state HRV in drug-naïve PD patients versus healthy controls.
• Included HRV parameters were from short-term frequency-domain (LF, HF) and long-term time-domain analyses.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in low frequency (LF) or high frequency (HF) HRV were found between PD patients and controls.
• A significantly higher LF/HF ratio was observed in PD patients, suggesting moderate sympathovagal imbalance.
• PD patients exhibited a significantly lower standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN).

Conclusions:

• Patients with PD demonstrate an impaired sympathovagal balance, as evidenced by an elevated short-term LF/HF ratio.
• The LF/HF ratio is a more consistent indicator of sympathovagal balance in PD compared to LF or HF alone.
• HRV holds potential as a predictive biomarker for antidepressant treatment response in individuals with PD.